Incident to modern construction, the development of suspended ceilings for both residential and commercial use has become quite commonplace. Generally, such ceilings provide a metallic gridwork which supports a plurality of asbestos tiles which are positioned between the metallic gridwork, and at spaced locations, light fixtures are built into the suspended ceiling. This type of construction has become quite commonplace.
One of the drawbacks incident to the provision of such ceilings has been the difficulty of suspending any structure from the ceiling since the only support structure available for supporting any suspended article is the metallic gridwork. Heretofore, it has been fairly common practice to employ a support of some type which is strung through the suspended ceiling and mounted from the overlying support surface or hard ceiling. In many such applications, the support fixture is clamped to one of the metallic grids and includes an upper portion which is fastened to the overlying support ceiling. For example, a construction of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,612,461 wherein a clip is provided which clips to the T bar of the metallic gridwork, and has an upwardly extending portion which provides a point of attachment for a cable or cord of some kind to be attached and suspended from the overlying support ceiling. It will be appreciated, however, that such assemblies are rather cumbersome in terms of use and are difficult to install. In addition, installation requires disassembling a portion of the ceiling in order to gain access above the suspended ceiling and requires that additional apertures or holes be drilled into the overlying support ceiling in order to mount the clips or hanging assemblies properly.
Various recent improvements have been effected on such hanging clamps, and for example, the hanger clips shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,743,228 represents one of such improvements. As shown in the aforementioned patent, the improved hanger clips assume a V-shaped configuration and include a pair of return support flanges which are intended to clip to the side lateral edges of the T bar forming a portion of the metallic gridwork. Extending downwardly from the V-shaped flanges is a support member having an aperture which is intended to carry the load of the article suspended therefrom. Clips of this type lend themselves to easy installations since the user need only clip the V-shaped flanges having the return support flanges incorporated therein on to the T-shaped metal grid bar forming part of the suspended ceiling. It has further been found that clips of this type will accept a significant load and weights of approximately 50 pounds or more may be suspended from clips of this type. Hence, it has been found that clips of this configuration perform quite adequately for suspending structures such as macrames and the like where the weight of a potted plant must be taken into consideration when employing any particular type of hanger assembly.
Even more recently, a further improvement has been effected in such hanger clips as evidenced by U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,985 wherein a V-shaped hanging clip is disclosed. Once again, the V-shaped hanging clip includes a pair of laterally outwardly extending flange portions having a return support flange portion associated therewith. The clip is installed on the T-shaped metallic grid bar by simply forcing the two V-shaped legs together until the return support flanges associated with each leg overly the T-shaped portion of the metal gridwork. The lower portion of the V-shaped clip includes an aperture which accommodates an S-shaped hook and thereby accommodates the suspension therefrom of any desired object.
It has been found that the hanger clips of the type described above as evidenced by the aforementioned patents perform quite adequately for suspending objects from a suspended ceiling. Nevertheless, it has been found that in many diverse types of construction, a suspended ceiling is provided in only one portion of the building. Hanging clips of the type described are intended to operate only in connection with a suspended ceiling and, therefore, cannot be adapted to any solid overhead ceiling, such as a plaster or plaster board ceiling.